Rand tells Congress that China might beat us...

Thanks to Nioble for the link!

via Rand

We also have not moved quickly enough to provide the capabilities and basing posture
needed to meet the manifold challenges posed by China’s rapidly modernizing armed
forces.
...
As a result, the United States now fields forces that are simultaneously
• larger than needed to fight a single major war
• failing to keep pace with the modernizing forces of great power adversaries
• poorly postured to meet key challenges in Europe and East Asia
• insufficiently trained and ready to get the most operational utility from many active
component units.
Put more starkly, our wargames and simulations suggest that U.S. forces could, under
plausible assumptions, lose the next war they are called upon to fight.

I've been shouting this from rooftops for  years.  Russia is a distraction.  China is the threat!

Open Comment Post. Feb 27, 2017

Burning issue?  ComNavOps (read his post here) touched on it but Trump blew it up today...Do we win wars any more?

Airbus to retrofit 26 Bundeswehr CH-53 helicopters

via AviTrader

Airbus Helicopters has received an order from the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to retrofit 26 CH-53 heavy transport helicopters. This contract will cover obsolescence management for components that are no longer available on the market and will begin by replacing them with up-to-date parts. This retrofit will guarantee the helicopters’ operation until at least 2030. The process will start in 2017 and should be completed by 2022. Work will be carried out in Donauworth at Airbus Helicopters’ Military Support Center Germany.

A good stop gap till they buy CH-53K's!

Chinese quantum radar nullifies the F-35???

via news.com.au

The new sensor technology uses concepts on the edge of our scientific understanding.
And a Chinese state-owned technology group late last year declared it had mastered it.
The new technology had “important military application values” because it could identify aircraft and ships “invisible” to conventional radar systems, a press statement read.
Understanding that technology exposes its full potential.
A photon is a particle with wavelike properties that carries energy without mass. We usually hear of it in terms of light, but it is the basis of all electromagnetic radiation.
Where radar sends out a beam of photons as radio waves, quantum radar uses entangled photons.
Put simply, entangled photons are two separate photons that share a deep quantum link. The upshot is the photons mirror each other’s behaviour when one of them is influenced in some way.
In terms of radar, a crystal can be used to ‘split’ such entangled photons and cast one into the sky.
For a time at least, the twin photons retain their ‘spooky’ link — mirroring the same responses to the environment the other encounters.
It’s a quirk of quantum physics which strained the understanding of Albert Einstein when he grappled with the idea in the 1930s.
Quantum radar would send out bursts of photons while retaining their ‘pairs’. The changes in behaviour of the retained photon would then reveal what’s happening to the photon in the beam.
Ultimately, the point is the same: the entangled photons bounce back to a sensor which can then compute course, speed and size.
But the use of tangled photons has a second major benefit over radio waves.
It’s not likely to be jammed.

Then this.

And different materials affect protons in different ways.
Because of this, analysts say quantum radar could ultimately be capable of determining what an aircraft is made of — or even carrying.
At one level this would eliminate the effectiveness of decoys. At another, it could identify which aircraft — or missile — is carrying nuclear warheads.
And, unlike existing radar, their transmissions would not be detectable.
Any stealth aircraft would not know it had been ‘seen’.

Story here.  Is this even possible or fantasy island?  This would have benefits for ground forces if its real....we could literally look thru buildings (yeah I know that already exists) and vehicles with ease.  There would be nowhere to hide!

 

The Boxer & AMV vs LAV-25...size comparison...

Thanks to MicMac80 for the pics!

This is why we need bigger amphibs....has anyone worked out the logistics on these vehicles compared to legacy with regard to amphibs/MPS?  These new jack vehicles are huge!  There are tactical implications that also need to be explored!

Open Comment Post. Feb 26, 2017.

Iron Fist 2017 (pics)...by LCpl. Tyler Byther & Cpl. Alvin Pujols

Canadian Air Force @ Operation NUNALIVUT...pics by Sgt Jean-François Lauzé & PO2 Belinda Groves

KC-390 (pics)...

Pics courtesy of the Brazilian Air Force.

CH-53E takes on gas...pics by Lance Cpl. Koby Saunders

USMC has 77 MV-22 configurations.

via IHS Janes

There are too many US Marine Corps (USMC) Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft configurations and it is becoming problematic to keep the fleet flying and to ready its ever-expanding mission set, a service official told Jane's .
The USMC came to that conclusion during a recent 'independent readiness review' the service has been conducting on the aircraft, according to USMC spokesperson Captain Sarah Burns.
"Simply put, we need to have one configuration of the Osprey," Capt Burns told Jane's on 22 February. "Right now, we have about 77 and have a plan to tackle that issue and support our Osprey fleet."

The rest of the article is behind a paywall, but the uptake is clear.  The Corps operates on a "we'll fix it after we get it" philosophy.  That thinking served it well in the past but not so much today.

2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion Land to Shore Maneuvers....pics by Lance Cpl. Alexis Schneider